ERICA: patterns of alcohol consumption in Brazilian adolescents

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To describe the patterns of alcohol consumption in Brazilian adolescents.METHODS We investigated adolescents who participated in the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents (ERICA). This is a cross-sectional, national and school-based study, which surveyed adolescents of 1,247 schools from 124 Brazilian municipalities. Participants answered a self-administered questionnaire with a section on alcoholic beverages consumption. Measures of relative frequency (prevalence), and their 95% confidence intervals, were estimated for the following variables: use of alcohol beverages in the last 30 days, frequency of use, number of glasses or doses consumed in the period, age of the first use of alcohol, and most consumed type of drink. Data were estimated for country and macro-region, sex, and age group. The module survey of the Stata program was used for data analysis of complex sample.RESULTS We evaluated 74,589 adolescents, who accounted for 72.9% of eligible students. About 1/5 of adolescents consumed alcohol at least once in the last 30 days and about 2/3 in one or two occasions during this period. Among the adolescents who consumed alcoholic beverages, 24.1% drank it for the first time before being 12 years old, and the most common type of alcoholic beverages consumed by them were drinks based on vodka, rum or tequila, and beer.CONCLUSIONS There is a high prevalence of alcohol consumption among adolescents, as well as their early onset of alcohol use. We also identified a possible change in the preferred type of alcoholic beverages compared with previous research.

Time series of hospitalizations of adolescents due to mental and behavioral disorders

“…ERICA also found that alcohol consumption among adolescents is higher in the South region (20) , which may support data from the present study. This information was reaffirmed by an exploration of the theme held in the city of Pelotas-RS (21) , which revealed that 23% of adolescents interviewed had consumed alcohol in the last 30 days, a mean higher than that indicated by ERICA.…”

“…This same survey also showed that alcohol consumption increases with the age group, which means that those adolescents who had an early initiation remain consuming and to this group are added those who start consumption later. Other relevant data showed that there was no significant difference between the consumption in the last 30 days between genders, which was observed that the male adolescents have a more frequent consumption, estimated around 10 times a month (20) .…”

“…A relevant Brazilian study, the Estudo dos Riscos Cardiovasculares em Adolescentes (ERICA -freely translated as, Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents), started in 2008, with its results published in 2016, with students aged 12 to 17 from public and private schools, showed that 21% of adolescents interviewed had consumed alcohol at least once in the last 30 days, and of these, around 25%, had the first contact with the drink before 12 years of age (20) . This same survey also showed that alcohol consumption increases with the age group, which means that those adolescents who had an early initiation remain consuming and to this group are added those who start consumption later.…”

Trends in the Incidence of Breast Cancer Following the Radiological Accident in Goiânia: A 25-Year Analysis

“…A study conducted with Asian-American and Japanese-American women born in the United States showed that alcohol use was associated with a 15% increased risk of breast cancer even when consumption was limited to 5.0 to 9.9 grams/day or 3-6 doses/week (Wu et al, 2012). In Goiânia, there is a high prevalence of alcohol consumption among adolescents, as well as the early onset of alcohol use (Coutinho et al, 2016;Nascente et al, 2016). In addition, physical inactivity, inadequate eating habits and obesity may also have contributed to this increased incidence of the disease (Nascente et al, 2016; Godinho-Mota et al, 2018).…”

Prevenção do uso de álcool em adolescentes escolares

“…12 Therefore, it is understood that school health strategies must assume that it is necessary to stimulate the process of flexibility of school curricula and create institutional spaces that are welcoming and facilitating for integrated planning of education and health with an integral and participatory approach, 13 especially among the adolescent population, since in this period the experiences can reflect on something that causes instability and psychological distress and, consequently, greater vulnerability to drug use. 14 It is noteworthy that the choice of the theme worked with adolescents was very important within the school context, since studies indicate that alcohol is the most consumed alcoholic beverage among schoolchildren in the age group comprised, [15][16] which makes strategies such as this very important for the implementation of health promoting mechanisms in the school.…”